Update: Stanislaus County to close COVID vaccine clinics due to state warning
Stanislaus County officials announced Monday afternoon that the vaccination clinics at Modesto Centre Plaza and California State University, Stanislaus will be closed effective Tuesday.
Citing a state alert about a block of Moderna vaccine, the county Health Services Agency said in a 3:15 p.m. news release it won’t be holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics until further notice.
“Stanislaus County will not have enough vaccines to operate community vaccination clinics at this time,” the news release said.
The county said it was not able to guarantee vaccine availability after state health officials issued a warning about a block of Moderna vaccine, which possibly caused an allergic reaction in some people at a mass vaccination site in San Diego.
The California Department of Public Health recommended that health providers stop using the Moderna vaccine from Lot 041L20A until an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies is completed.
The county said 520 vaccine doses from Moderna Lot 041L20A had been administered prior to Monday’s clinic at Modesto Centre Plaza and none of the recipients had an adverse reaction. No vaccine from Lot 041L20A was injected at Monday’s clinic in Modesto, the county said.
A county spokesperson said the 520 doses were distributed through five different health providers. The county declined to identify the providers.
Protocals for COVID-19 vaccine clinics call for vaccine recipients to be monitored for reactions for 15 minutes. Kamlesh Kaur, a health educator for Stanislaus County, said people who are vaccinated are told to monitor themselves for any reactions or symptoms and report them on the V-Safe app.
Last week, the county held coronavirus vaccination clinics at the former county hospital site at 830 Scenic Drive. It had planned to open another clinic at Stanislaus State on Tuesday but those plans are now on hold.
The state issued a warning Sunday night and recommended a pause in administering the Moderna Lot 041L20A vaccine because of possible allergic reactions. The county was able to use other limited vaccine supplies to open the Modesto Centre Plaza clinic Monday.
More than 285 health providers across the state received shipments of that lot of Moderna vaccine between Jan. 5 and 12, according to the state. The shipments included 330,000 doses.
A higher than usual number of possible allergic reactions were reported with the Moderna vaccine administered at the San Diego clinic, said Dr. Erica Pan, the state’s top epidemiologist.
Fewer than 10 people required medical attention, Pan’s statement said.
Under an “extreme abundance of caution”, the state advised local agencies to use other available vaccine.
Stanislaus County Public Health said on social media it was closely monitoring the situation regarding the Moderna vaccine in question and has stopped administering vaccine from that lot.
“This change does impact the amount of vaccine we have on hand,” the county said in a post on the StanEmergency Facebook page. “If you haven’t arrived at Modesto Centre Plaza today, please do not come today. We will keep you update regarding changes to the clinic schedule as we learn more.”
State health officials said they have not received any other reports of adverse reactions to the Moderna vaccine flagged in the warning.
Stanislaus County has used supplies of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in its vaccination program to battle coronavirus outbreaks.
This story was originally published January 18, 2021 at 10:25 AM.
